Using+a+Wiki

=Using This Wiki=

Understanding What A Wiki Is
([|From 7 Things You Should Know About Wikis]) Please watch this video from Common Craft: [|Wikis in Plain English] A wiki is a webpage that can be viewed and modified by anyone with a Web browser and access to the Internet. This means that any visitor to the wiki can change its content if they desire. While the potential for mischief exists, wikis can be surprisingly robust, open-ended, collaborative group sites.

Wikis permit asynchronous communication and group collaboration across the Internet. Variously described as a composition system, a discussion medium, a repository, a mail system, and a tool for collaboration, wikis provide users with both author and editor privileges; the overall organization of contributions can be edited as well as the content itself. Wikis are able to incorporate sounds, movies, and pictures; they may prove to be a simple tool to create multimedia presentations and simple digital stories. According to //The Wiki Way,// “‘[O]pen editing’ has some profound and subtle effects on the wiki’s usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site...encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.”2 Because the user interface is familiar—a Web page on a personal computer—barriers to modifying wiki pages are minimal. Plus, the results of the users’ actions on the content of the site are instantly visible to other users.

To Add Text
Click on the page to which you wish to contribute content. Click on the //Edit This Page// link. Type your content into the white box that appears. Click the //Save// button on the upper right-hand corner of the box.

To Add Links
Click on the page to which you wish to contribute content. Click on the //Edit This Page// link. Type your content into the white box that appears. Highlight the part of the text that you want to be hotlinked. Click on the picture of the chain link. When the pop-up window appears, click the //External Link// button and then type (or copy and paste) your link into the box beside it. Click the //OK// button in the pop-up window. Click the //Save// button on the page.

To Start a New Discussion
Click on the page where you want to begin a discussion. (Use the Home page for general discussion items.) Next, click the Discussion tab at the top of the page. Type the subject of your message into the Subject box and the content of your message into the large, white box. To make your post easier for others to find, type key words that describe the content of your post into the Key Words box at the top of the page (this step is optional). Now, click Post.

To Add/Edit/Update your Picture and/or Profile
 Click on the My Account link at the top of every wiki page. Click the Settings tab. The directions for adding/updating your picture and/or profile are included in the center header. Click on the picture or profile link for the directions to add/update.